Justice Collaboration 

Monthly Update 

21st Edition, July 2026

Welcome to the Justice Collaboration’s July update!

The University of Sydney's Justice Collaboration aims to improve justice outcomes and to ultimately prevent crime.

The University of Sydney has numerous strengths in this area and has a track record of work across disciplines, faculties and research centres directly and indirectly relevant to justice systems and people in conflict with the law. 

In this edition we showcase new publications, new affiliates, PhD theses from the archives, some helpful resources and upcoming events!

New Publication: Client characteristics associated with early therapeutic alliance in a drug court program

A recent article, co-written by Collaboration affiliate Dr Marlee Bower and researchers from the Matilda Centre, examines the role of client characteristics play in the development of the therapeutic alliance in the early stages of a drug court program. Drug court programs are one of the most prominent interventions for people with a drug use disorder who have offended, and there is emerging evidence of the crucial role psychological therapy plays in achieving optimised program outcomes. The therapeutic alliance between therapist and client underpins effective psychological treatment in a range of mental health disorders, including drug use disorders. Little is known, however about the forging of a therapeutic alliance when delivered treatment is delivered within a legal framework such as a drug court program. 

This study included 93 participants from two NSW drug court programs. Participants completed baseline assessment interviews at two weeks into their community-based drug court program. Motivation to change drug use was associated with a stronger early therapeutic alliance with therapist. A history of exposure to trauma in childhood negatively impacted upon the strength of early alliance. The authors recommend clinical practices which build therapist responsivity to individual client factors in the early days of forging a therapeutic alliance in a drug court program. 

The article, published in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment can accessed here.

New Publication: Digital Vulnerability in Criminal Justice, Vulnerable People and Communication Technologies

This open access book authored by Sydney Law School's Associate Professor Carolyn McKay examines the impact of digitalisation processes on fair, accessible and inclusive criminal justice for vulnerable individuals. Based on original empirical data from an Australian Research Council funded national study, the book evaluates digitalised criminal justice, specifically, the increasing use of remote hearings and virtual courts, and the interrelationship with vulnerability. It asks: in what ways do remote communication technologies, such as videolinks, videoconferencing, and pre-recorded evidence, assist or disadvantage vulnerable witnesses, complainants, victims and defendants in the criminal justice system? By interviewing and surveying 175 Australian judicial officers, prosecutors, defence lawyers and affiliated professionals, the book examines the impact of digitalised criminal justice on all vulnerable individuals. Themes include the benefits and challenges to human connection, communication, comprehension and confidentiality, as well as court authority, cross-examination, and emotional expression. While there are certain universal and non-contentious experiences of videolinks, the key practical findings are sharply delineated between vulnerable witnesses versus vulnerable defendants. Theoretically, the book merges digital criminology with vulnerability theories to contribute understandings of ‘digital vulnerability’, that is, the interplay between digital technologies and vulnerable individuals in criminal justice. Digital Vulnerability in Criminal Justice provides critical and contemporary insights, and forward-looking recommendations for ensuring fair digitalised criminal justice into the future

You can read more about Associate Professor McKay’s research project here. Digital Vulnerability in Criminal Justice, Vulnerable People and Communication Technologies can be accessed for free here. 

Brain and Mind Centre’s A/Prof Frank Iorfino speaks at TEDxSutherland

Associate Professor Frank Iorfino recently presented at TEDxSutherland, speaking about ambient mental health care. As rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide continue to rise, mental health care is still largely built around waiting for people to reach crisis point before help arrives. But what if the devices we carry every day — our phones, watches, and wearables — could detect the earliest signs of psychological distress and intervene before lives begin to unravel?

In this talk, Frank Iorfino reveals how emerging technologies and digital biomarkers are reshaping the future of mental health care, transforming it from reactive treatment into proactive, personalised support designed to help people truly thrive.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. You can watch the TEDx talk here. 

New Publication: Creative Underspheres and democratic challenges: Exploring the implications of generative AI misuse

Co-authored by Collaboration Affiliate Milly Stilinovic, this article introduces the concept of the Undersphere - a networked community brought together via creative exchange - to highlight how the increased proliferation of Generative Al poses risks not yet acknowledged by policymakers within emerging Al regulatory frameworks. Employing a single case study methodology - namely, exploring exchanges made on r/StableDiffusion, a known subgroup on Reddit - it illustrates the conceptual parameters of the Undersphere, outlines the potential for creative harm within the GenAl space, and counters these elements against the Al regulatory frameworks found within the EU Al Act. It concludes that a risk management framework that provides a more fluid approach to addressing risks, such as those found in governance frameworks aimed at eradicating climate change, could be better positioned to address insecurities manifesting from the GenAl space.

The article, published in New Media & Society can be accessed for free here. 

Dr Michelle Peterie 

Dr Michelle Peterie is ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow and University Robinson Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney. She co-leads the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies' research themes on 'Work, Education and Welfare' and 'Migration, Im/mobility and Belonging'. Michelle is an Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Journal of Social Issues and co-convener of The Australian Sociological Association's Families and Relationships Thematic Group.

Michelle's research investigates the impacts of social policies and practices on individual and collective wellbeing. Taking a person-centred approach - and in close collaboration with research participants and third-sector stakeholders - her work seeks to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children, families and communities. Michelle is currently leading two Australian Research Council (ARC) projects about immigration detention in Australia. Both studies are being undertaken in partnership with the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Child Wellbeing in the Context of Parental Immigration Detention and Deportation: The first project is an ARC DECRA study about children’s experiences of parental immigration detention and/or deportation. As part of this study, Michelle and her team is speaking with children who have had a parent detained in or deported from Australia. They are also be speaking with these children’s parents/guardians, and with the people who support them. For more information about this study, please visit the project webpage.

The Forgotten Children, Ten Years On: The second project is an ARC Linkage study about the long-term impacts of immigration detention in the lives of people who were detained as children. The research builds on the AHRC’s 2014 Forgotten Children report, and will be one of the first studies internationally to investigate the long-term impacts of detaining children. The team is interested in speaking to people who were detained in Australia’s onshore or offshore detention system at any point during their childhoods. Recruitment for this project is now open. For more information or to ask about being involved, please visit the project webpage.

Michelle recently co-authored an opinion piece for the ABC on the Forgotten Children, Ten Years On project. You can read that piece here. She was also recently quoted in a Guardian article about Australian’s deportation policies. You can read that piece here.

Dr Zoe Hogan

Dr Zoe Hogan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies at the University of Sydney. Her research interests include arts-based research, applied theatre and teaching artistry. Zoe is currently working on an ARC Linkage Project about the long-term impacts of immigration detention in the lives of people who were detained as children.

Zoe's doctoral research explored the experiences of Community Languages teachers engaging in a drama and storytelling program. Her thesis was awarded Finalist in the Drama Australia Christine Sinclair Research Award 2024. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Applied Arts & Health. She is a co-author of Connecting through Drama (2022) and the author of Teaching Artistry through Drama-in-Education (2026). 

Zoe’s new book explores the complexity of teaching artistry through the lens of a participatory drama project with adults from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Interweaving theory with practice-based research, Hogan considers how themes of flow, affect, care, and thirdspace illuminate participants’ experiences. This timely exploration adds to a growing discourse in drama-in-education and applied theatre that moves away from positivist jargon and grandiose claims in favour of research methods informed by social justice and the centring of the intrinsic value of arts-rich experiences. Weaving, unweaving, and reweaving is a central metaphor throughout the book, considering how arts-based research constitutes an iterative process of learning, unlearning, revisiting, and reconceiving preconceived notions and ideas.

Zoe's research approach is informed by her practice as a teaching artist and community arts facilitator, where she has worked extensively with children and young people, migrant and refugee communities, people with lived experience of homelessness, and young people who are incarcerated. Her work in this area has been recognised with a UNESCO case study and STARTTS NSW Humanitarian Award. She has held various leadership, artistic and consultative positions at organisations including Sydney Theatre Company, Milk Crate Theatre, Powerhouse Museum and Australian Plays Transform. Zoe is the recipient of The Lloyd Martin Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Arts Leaders from Sydney Opera House.

Many PhD theses developed at the University of Sydney over the years may be of interest to those working in criminal justice. We are going to highlight some of these freely available theses in this and upcoming newsletters. 

Alcohol, Aggression and Violence Among Young People: A Volatile Mix - Siobhan Lawler (2021)

Hazardous alcohol use and aggression in youth are substantial global challenges associated with significant social, emotional and economic burdens across health, school and justice systems. To date, understanding in these areas is limited for several reasons: the lack of prospective longitudinal research examining how these behaviours develop and influence each other over time; the limited number of studies examining justice responses and the relative role of alcohol in youth violence; and a lack of evidence-based prevention programs addressing both alcohol use and aggression. This thesis sought to address these gaps. Specifically, this thesis aimed to: 1) examine the developmental relationship; 2) explore criminal justice responses; and 3) evaluate an intervention for preventing harmful alcohol use and aggression among young people. Developmental trajectories of alcohol use and aggression were modelled in parallel (see Paper 1). The findings indicated reciprocal contemporaneous associations between alcohol and aggression and demonstrated a prospective link between heightened aggression and subsequent hazardous alcohol use. Paper 2 situated hazardous alcohol use as the most significant proximal influence on violence, demonstrating a robust association even after accounting for individual and early environmental risk factors. Paper 3 explored the intersections between youth alcohol use and violent crime in the criminal justice system, finding that alcohol was commonly implicated in violent crime by young adults. Papers 1–3 provided strong evidence that adolescence and emerging adulthood are critical periods for the co-development of alcohol and aggression. Thus, the final study (Paper 4) examined the impact of a prevention program that targets high-risk personality styles associated with both alcohol use and aggression in early adolescence. Outcomes showed sustained reductions in aggression for youth who received the intervention over a seven-year period (from age 13–20). This thesis contains a series of rigorous, novel studies that collectively contribute a mixed- methods account of the nature and correlates of aggression and violent behaviour among young people and provide critical evidence for prevention.

Siobhan Lawler's thesis can be accessed for free here. 

The temperance shift: drunkenness, responsibility and the regulation of alcohol in NSW, 1788-1856 - Matthew Allen (2013)

This thesis begins with a broad overview of alcohol regulation in early modern England, illustrating the abiding importance of drinking to English society and the equally persistent concern about the consequences of excess for both public morality and public order. The ambiguous status of drinking, essential to the economy and social life but condemned as a symbol of disorder and sin, contributed to the problem of regulating alcohol in early NSW. Rum played a symbolic role in the clash between two visions of the colony: as a moral reformatory for convicts and as a commercial opportunity for the growing class of free and freed entrepreneurs. With the arrival of Macquarie, the greater stability of NSW was mirrored by a growing consensus about the role of alcohol as a necessary evil, reflected in regulation that mirrored the traditional English system. But from the mid-1830s, this consensus was challenged by the emergence of the temperance movement, the rapid growth of the free population and the development of more modern systems of policing that allowed for greater control over the use and abuse of strong drink. As temperance societies radicalised in the 1840s they lost elite support and their influence in NSW correspondingly declined but despite this, temperance grew in influence as an idea. By the time the organised movement re-emerged in the 1850s, a new consensus saw alcohol itself as a as a fundamentally problematic substance that rendered the drinker incapable of self-control. This temperance shift in the understanding of alcohol was the key to the institutionalisation of a new concept of responsibility which cast drunkenness and other social problems as the responsibility of the liberal state.

Matthew Allen’s thesis can be accessed for free here. 

Here we highlight some free professional development opportunities and training resources. We hope these resources will assist those working with people at risk of engaging in criminal activity. 

Heart-Led Planning

Created by the Centre for Disability Research and Policy (CDRP), Heart-Led Planning is a collection of free training modules to educate the disability workforce about a more relational process to inform planning. The training focuses on how to work with people with disability.

CDRP co-designed a series of training modules with people with disability, local Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, allied health workers, the NDIA, and disability service providers. The training modules incorporate the Head, Heart, Hand holistic principles that captures the importance of THINKING, HEART, and DOING. 

Cultural Competence Online Modules 

The National Centre for Cultural Competence – Cultural Competence Online Modules aim to encourage individuals’ confidence, motivation, and knowledge in developing cultural competence capabilities as well as increase culturally competent practices in organisations across the country.

These modules offer a range of research-based educational resources, insights from academics and community members as well as reflective activities. 

Rhythm and Blues - sleep disturbance in youth mental health

The Third Human Services Hub event will focus on sleep disturbances and research by two Brain and Mind Centre research staff.

Open to University of Sydney students and staff, this Human Services Hub event will focus on sleep disturbances and showcase research by two Brain and Mind Centre research staff. Sleep issues are common for clients in various human service settings. This seminar will be relevant to students who will work in child protection, mental health, criminal justice, alcohol and other drug, and various other settings.

Speakers:

Dr Min Chong is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Brain and Mind Centre. During her PhD, she focused on technology-enhanced approaches to personalised mental healthcare and how young people engage with digital tools in care. In her current postdoctoral role, her work has expanded to examine the role of circadian rhythms in shaping mental health outcomes. In this talk, Min will reflect on the shifts and turning points in her journey as an early-career researcher.

Dr Jake Crouse is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre. For the last five years, Jake has led a program of clinical research investigating how sleep and circadian rhythms (body clocks) shape the mental health of people living with mood disorders and how they might be targeted to more effectively treat these conditions. In this talk, Jake will speak about the public health and societal impacts of sleep and circadian disturbances and will provide a narrative about his personal journey as a research scientist.

Details: 

Thursday, 23 September, 2026

Time: 12:00 pm–1:00 pm

Venue: Law Lounge, Level 1, Law Annex, Sydney Law School

Registration: Free, but registration is required.

Students and staff can find out more about the event and register here.

Careers in Criminal Justice and Human Services

We invite University of Sydney students and staff to the fourth Human Services Hub event, where a panel of criminal justice and human services practitioners share their journeys.

This careers event will include a panel with three outstanding criminal justice and human services practitioners. They will share stories from their careers, how they got started, what roles opened up to them once they had a 'foot in the door', what advice they would give to make the most of your degree and how to plan for employment.

Speakers include:

Dr Evelyne Tadros is CEO of the Mental Health Coordinating Council and an Adjunct Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Mental Health at UNSW. She holds a Doctorate of Health Science and a Master’s in Child and Adolescent Health from the University of Sydney, and serves as a Board Director with St Vincent de Paul Society NSW and the Electricity & Water Ombudsman. Despite the titles, it’s her two teenage boys who reliably keep her grounded.

Sarah Ellis is a justice-sector specialist with a Master’s degree in Criminological Research and a career spanning youth justice, child safeguarding, corrective services, and policing across the UK and Australia. A Winston Churchill Fellow who investigated bullying and harassment in juvenile custody, she is driven by a lifelong commitment to improving outcomes for young people and those navigating the justice system.

Sindy Wang is a data analyst at the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Her work focuses on Closing the Gap, domestic violence and youth justice. She graduated with first class honours from the University of Sydney in 2021 and her criminology career began at the Sydney Institute of Criminology.

Collaboration Director Associate Professor Garner Clancey will facilitate this panel discussion.

Details: 

Tuesday 13 October, 2026

Time: 5-6.32pm

Venue: Law Foyer, Level 2, New Law Building (F10)

Registration: Free, but registration is required.

Students and staff can find out more about the event and register here.

2026 Applied Research in Crime and Justice Conference 

Griffith Criminology Institute and NSW BOCSAR are hosting the 2026 Applied Research in Crime and Justice Conference (ARCJC), showcasing practical, policy-relevant research that bridges evidence to real-world criminal justice practice.

Join policymakers, academics, and stakeholders on 21-22 July 2026 at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre for the theme Transforming Criminal Justice Systems: Bridging Research & Evidence-based Practice. Explore subthemes like: Evidence-based Policing, Indigenous Justice, Technology & Crime, Youth Justice and more.

Invited keynote speakers include: 

Professor Tom R. Tyler (Yale) 

Professor Susan Dennison (Transforming Corrections Centre)

Professor Kyllie Cripps (Monash Indigenous Studies)

Professor Stephane Shepherd (Deakin Forensic Psychology)

Professor Tamara Walsh (UQ Pro Bono Centre)

Dates: 21-22 July 2026

Location: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre 

You can find out more about the conference here.

6th Australasian Youth Justice Conference 

The Australasian Youth Justice Administrators (AYJA) invite you to participate in the 6th Australasian Youth Justice conference.

Equitable and inclusive outcomes are achieved through understanding and responding to the unique strengths, challenges, and aspirations of diverse communities. This year’s theme recognises place-based, community-driven approaches and solutions to address overrepresentation and diversity in metropolitan, regional, and remote contexts that genuinely reflect lived experiences. This Conference will provide a platform to share what better outcomes look like for young people in the youth justice system, their families/whānau and communities wherever they are and whoever they may be.  

Two main sub-themes of this conference will be leading practice through culture and connection and weaving the voices of young people into evidence-informed practice.

Dates: 30th September - 2nd October 2026
Location: Murrundi - Murray River, SA.

You can register for the conference here.

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